Dec. 13, 2017
01:26 pm JST

Dec. 13, 2017
01:30 pm JST

This another incident is a way to discover the true motives of posters. 44 aircraft accidents happened in Okinawa by USA, but this is 2 in a week. Guam seems like the perfect solution. A little far from china, but I’m sure the new $700 billion budget can make this happen.

Dec. 13, 2017
02:04 pm JST

Dec. 13, 2017
02:18 pm JST

Dec. 13, 2017
02:32 pm JST

What the heck is going on with all these military aircraft parts falling off recently? Is this really a common thing to happen? there have been 451 objects fallen off aircraft in the last 8yrs over Japan, many of which come from commercial aircraft including J airlines , thats around 4~5 items per month and this is only the ones that are reported, so it more common than people realize.

Dec. 13, 2017
02:36 pm JST

Bad place to build a school, next to an airport. yep considering the base was basically the only thing left remaining at the end of WW2. and this is why the base WILL be moved to a low populated part of Okinawa.

Dec. 13, 2017
02:46 pm JST

A 10-year-old boy suffered a minor injury after being hit by small stones that were blown by the wind when the object fell on the playground,

Can't wait to see the exaggerated infographics on TV depicting this. Followed by a reporting wearing a hardhat pointing directly to the spot and then the video cutting to a racing ambulance and finally finishing with "random" street interviews of worried mothers holding their children.

Dec. 13, 2017
03:03 pm JST

Dec. 13, 2017
03:30 pm JST

cracaphat: "Gonna deny again no doubt."

Like they denied the other part that did NOT fall from the aircraft? because they have no record of anything falling, nor is there any proof if fell from an aircraft. I think it's be safer to say Onaga will be screaming from the hilltops before the window hit the ground. One of these kids could have beat the snot out of the other and he would not care ONE WIT, but a few pebbles from a window and I guarantee the kid will be at death's door according to Onaga.

Now, in this case it looks like it was indeed from a US aircraft, and they absolutely need to be more careful, but accidents happen, and thankfully no one was hurt.

Dec. 13, 2017
06:28 pm JST

Dec. 13, 2017
06:32 pm JST

Dec. 13, 2017
06:56 pm JST

Something similar happened at our local junior high school in Oyama, Shizuoka-ken a few years back. One of the students found some blank rounds that fell out of a helicopter on its way to Camp Fuji. The mayor had a sit down with the military and worked out a new flight path instead of going over the schools.

Dec. 13, 2017
06:59 pm JST

I hadn't realised that the Futenma Air base was located right smack bang in the middle of a densely populated area, but the photograph above somewhat makes me agree with the Residents. It's time to move the base.

Dec. 13, 2017
07:30 pm JST

Dec. 13, 2017
07:52 pm JST

Why on Earth are there US bases in Okinawa anyway? This isn't American soil. If they really HAVE to have bases here they should pay rent - at the going price for land rent. That would clear up the wasted space in Kadena for a start. In any case, US bases should be on US soil.

Dec. 13, 2017
10:42 pm JST

It's really unthinkable that a window frame should fall from a flying helicopter. A pundit tells unless someone unlocks the window frame either intentionally or accidentally, it won't come off the fuselage. Let's wait and see how the Marines will announce the final report of their investigation.

One poster here says that "if the base had been moved, this never would have happened!"

Sure enough, if the base had been moved to an unpopulated California desert, such incident would never have happened. Above anything else, the U.S. Marines have no justified, legal grounds to be stationed in Okinawa.

Dec. 13, 2017
10:51 pm JST

Above anything else, the U.S. Marines have no justified, legal grounds to be stationed in Okinawa. false facts once again, Okinawa courts have stated its legal for the marines to move to Henoko, the US marines are in Japan at the invitation of the J gov , the same government that was voted in by the Japanese people.

With NK, China pushing their weight around there is no better justification for the US to have a strategic base in Japan. So unless by some divine intervention by the Okinawan gods, the marines will be moving to Henoko when that base is complete with the agreement of the J gov made over 20yrs ago. The longer Okinawa government uses delaying tactics the longer the Okinawa public will have to tolerate the noise and risks involved.

Dec. 13, 2017
10:52 pm JST

Dec. 13, 2017
10:56 pm JST

Harry but these are american army helicopters... you know the army that has never won a war and keeps losing ridiculous amount of money.... i honestly dont think they are qualified to repair a toilet let along a helicopter

Dec. 14, 2017
04:30 am JST

RecklessDec. 13 01:53 pm JST this is pretty bad. I have a kid in elementary school and would be horrified if this happened at his school. look at that aerial photo? that base should not be there.

I think you'll find that the base predates the elementary school. Don't know how often the base has been expanded or in which directions, but it has been there in one form or another since 1945. There was little left standing on Okinawa at the end of the war, so I image that the city has grown up around the base as much as the base has morphed, if at all.

Dec. 14, 2017
04:40 am JST

If it weren’t for the American bases you would have never come to Japan.

The reason why they are here is the aftermath of WWII and the subsequent Cold War.

You should appreciate the army that guards you to the death instead of immaturely hoping they’d go home.

Actually, U.S., S. Korean and Japanese security would be better served in this area of the world by a second carrier battle group as we'd have to have 200,000 Marines there if we wanted to invade anyone. The Marines on Okinawa are there in the mistaken belief that they can be used to help occupy N. Korea when the time comes. However, China is very likely to repeat its "volunteerism" of the Korean War, swarming into the two halves in the country by the hundreds of thousands if N. Korea falls.

Dec. 14, 2017
07:11 am JST

Definately would have killed somebody if it hit them, so I can understand why they'd be upset. What makes me mad is watching news reporters in Tokyo interviewing moms with kids on the street. They were showing a half-tatami-sized square of something, and asking people and asking them what they thought. As if there wasn't enough trouble in Okinawa, gotta spread it to Tokyo.

Dec. 14, 2017
07:45 am JST

Dec. 14, 2017
07:54 am JST

witjapan (Dec. 13 10:51 pm JST),

Thank you for the response.

The issue contended at the Naha Branch of Fukuoka High Court was over whether the former governor's approval of land reclamation at Henoko waters was legal or not; never over whether the U.S. Marines can be stationed in Okinawa.

You say they "are in Japan at the invitation of the J gov." LOL. Read Article 6 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty both in Japanese and English versions. There's no guarantee that they can use bases and areas in Japan as an integral part of the U.S. Navy.

There's also no strategic reason why they must be permanently deployed in Okinawa. The most active elements of them are to move to Guam where the infrastructure for their stationing there is being constructed (or has it been completed?).

Dec. 14, 2017
08:11 am JST

What kind of moron figured a school should be built there? God forbid a plane crash affect the school someday.

The Ginowan City office, with the blessing of the Okinawa prefecture. All of this gets forgotten in the rush to criticize and point fingers, and of course none will take responsibility for such a boneheaded plan.

There were and are plenty of other places they could have built it at the time, but they built it there.

Harry but these are american army helicopters... you know the army that has never won a war and keeps losing ridiculous amount of money...

No they are not, but you have to educate yourself to the situation to understand that BEFORE you start making silly and ignorant comments.

Dec. 14, 2017
12:17 pm JST

Yet an American F 100 fighter crashed into an Miyamori Elementary School many kilometers away from Kadena AFB. This killed 11 students and injured 156. The pilot was able to eject safely and was not harmed. This elementary school was located in the Ishikawa area.

The US pilots need to stop overflying Okinawa schools! It can be done, how about flying out in the direction of the runway and then over the water.

Dec. 14, 2017
02:32 pm JST

“I would say that close to 100% of the people posting on this forum were not even born when this accident occurred.”

I was born well before that accident, not that I think it matters. WHEN the accident happened doesn’t change the fact that it was a terrible, traumatic tragedy that will u serstandably affect the reaction of locals to incidents such as the present one.

“This killed 11 students and injured 156.”

It also killed and injured people in the surrounding housing area, for a total of 17 dead and 210 injured.

Dec. 14, 2017
07:28 pm JST

YuriOtani

Always hating on the US and wanting them out...

To want America out without rearmament is to want the destruction of Japan at the moment. Russia and China would get their long desired revenge, and you’d be complaining about the Russians and the new language they are forcing you to speak.

Dec. 14, 2017
08:08 pm JST

Dec. 14, 2017
10:59 pm JST

Yubaru,

“Using incidents from well over a quarter century ago to discuss what happened today? That's reaching for sure.”

I got your point but don’t necessarily agree. That accident was actually over a half-century ago. Ancient history maybe to the side that lost no one, just the one aircraft. But reasonably or not, it’s naturally going to color the view of those who perhaps lost relatives, acqauntices, etc.

Dec. 15, 2017
12:32 am JST

Yubaru, I was born before the accident. I was not yet in elementary school. It has a big impact on my family and myself. Yet the facts speak for themselves. The school was not located at the end of a runway. The pilot ejected at the first sign of trouble. The US military was more worried about security than the children. Fast forward to 2004 and it happens again at an Okinawa University. The US military took control of the university in violation of the SOFA agreement. Their goal was to suppress any evidence of the crash. It can happen again a KC 135 tanker full of fuel crashing into the Okinawa urban area. This schools should not be built at the end of runways is denial of the basic problem. Yet Okinawa is so congested where would you move the schools? Who would pay to move them. How will the children get to their now distant schools? The USA needs to take responsibility and not live in denial.

Dec. 15, 2017
11:56 am JST

If there were same situations of military bases in the US, these bases are against the US law and would be closed down soon and would have positively to move to another open place. Military will always do it in US.